


Catch Me When I Fall

by BringontheWonder1997



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 13:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21119594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BringontheWonder1997/pseuds/BringontheWonder1997
Summary: Four times that Daniel catches Henley and one time that she doesn't mind that he doesn't.





	Catch Me When I Fall

Daniel first meets Henley on the street outside a pub. It's dirty and grimy, but Daniel can't afford to care, making his living through card tricks and a slight of hand that no one notices. He has a small show, on Tuesdays and Thursdays that pays most of the rent but it's not full time.

He's alone outside, but drunk, and eyeing up every girl that saunters past him.

He sees her straight away, in a short green dress that contrasts with the vibrant colour of her hair. His eyes are glued to the hem for a second, watching it ride up as she walks, in six-inch black stilettos (a feat he never falls to be impressed by), before moving them up to meet her eyes.

She's smirking at him and he smiles and moves towards her, hoping to impress her with one of his latest tricks.

It's working, until his eyes flick away to follow another girl into the pub, and the next thing that he knows the cards are in her hands - quite literally.

She smirks at him, yet again, and he knows that his mouth must've dropped open. He closes it quickly and smirks back, impressed.

She hands him back the deck and turns to continue walking, stumbling in her heels. As she starts to fall, he grabs her wrist and pulls her back up, their eyes meeting.

He wonders what she'd look like on a stage, under the lights.

He wonders if he'd be able to persuade her into an even shorter dress.

oOo

They end up as friends, starting an act together.

Sometimes the tension between them is unbearable, whether sexual or angry (most of the time it's both). Henley likes to blame it on her hair, but Daniel just says she's naturally a moody cow and the whole thing just starts again, like it's a never-ending cycle.

They are rehearsing for a show, trying something that they haven't before.

Henley hates doing this (she says it's because she doesn't trust him, but really, it's just because if she's going to be forced into this outfit then there better be someone paying to see it).

She gets the trick done fine - well even - and even Daniel is hard-pressed to say something critical.

Henley is smiling, a real one, not one of those meant for the audience, and Daniel is so busy watching her that he almost doesn't notice when she starts to fall (he ignores how messed up that sounds in his head, before starting to deny that he was watching her at all).

Meanwhile, Henley is grinning, because she's done it and she's so busy trying to walk across the stage in this dress (and yes, it is shorter than the one that she was wearing when they met, much to her consternation and Daniel's delight) that she's not got enough time to think about her shoes and she finds herself tumbling off the stage right into Daniel's waiting arms.

They both freeze for a moment before Daniel practically drops her out of his arms and strides across the stage.

If he went any faster, he'd be running.

But Daniel's happy now, he's got something to complain about and he'd rather do that than have her catch him ogling her in that dress.

oOo

Henley's not seen Daniel in so long that she's almost forgotten what it's like to work with him.

Almost.

Because who could forget all the constant rehearsals and his constant need for perfection and the frankly insulting outfits that he forced her in to; all for the sake of the audience, of course. As soon as she'd left, she'd burnt most of them and watched them go up in ashes and flame, like her hopes that Daniel might one day become a better man, one that might actually care about her.

She had tried and tried to forgive him until one day she'd finally run out of patience, and who could blame her?

And now that she'd started to think that she might be over him, might be able to move on, he is dragged back into her life, just as unpleasant as he left.

Only maybe her second first impressions are wrong, because he does seem to have had some personal growth, just a bit. He's stopped commenting on her weight, at least.

Maybe they will be able to get on she thinks, maybe she'll be able to trust him again.

The bubble bursts around her and she starts to fall.

Henley closes her eyes and screams and knows that maybe not that much has changed after all. He'll still be there to catch her.

oOo

He can't believe that they're pulling this off, stealing five million dollars, right from under the nose of the FBI. It's the kind of trick that Daniel could never have believed in, and even he knows that he could never have managed it alone.

He thinks of Jack and wonders if this is what it's like to have a little brother - someone that's always in the way and whining and trouble, but that you can never quite get around to getting rid of.

He looks at Merritt and knows that however much they like to annoy each other they're in this together and if they succeed with this job it's probably going to stay that way for a long time.

He looks at Henley and wonders if she's ever been more beautiful, her eyes sparkling and her hair tangling in the wind.

And as they make the leap off the roof, he reaches out to take her hand, because god knows that Henley can never manage to land on her feet.

oOo

The tension between the two of them has gotten worse and worse, until Merritt is just flirting with Henley to rile Daniel up (not that he didn't do that before). Jack can plainly see what's going on and just wants the two of them to get on with it, preferably without scarring him for life, because he'd like just one day when they're not yelling at each other and him feeling like he's stumbled across world war three in their living room.

Even Rhodes just wants them to stop fighting and start snogging, because how is he supposed to operate a team like this one.

It's lucky then that everyone else is out when Daniel just can't take the sight of her in those leather trousers anymore and leaps forwards, half way through an argument, pressing their lips together and tangling one hand into her hair, like he's been desperate to do since they started the Four Horsemen.

She falls backwards onto the bed and this time she doesn't mind falling because she knows that he'll be right behind her.


End file.
